Method of producing veneered products



Patented May 16, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE amber METHOD orraonucmo vamarn mono Lawrence Ottinger, New York, N. Y., assignor toUnited States Plywood Corporation, New York,

N. Y., a corporation of New York Application February 9, 1931, SerialNo. man: i

1 Claim.

n commonly termed coniferous", such as Oregon fir, yellow pine, etc.,without having the hard and soft grain of the summer and spring growthshow through the imposed veneer layer when the veneer is shellacked,varnished or lacquered. The refraction which obtains under theconditions just mentioned destroys the character of the veneer surfaceand as a consequence such soft coniferous woods have not been employedin the production of high grade veneered products.

I havediscovered that by a simple pre-processing of a core or bodyelement of coniferous wood, the same may be utilized in con unction witha thin veneer to produce a veneered element comparable with one whereina core of hard wood, such as birch and poplar, or one where the grain ofa soft wood employed as the core or body element was masked by a sheetof hardwood interposed between the veneer and. the body. of course,veneers say of 15" or thicker, have been successfully applied to pineswhere the veneer is thick enough to eliminate the showing of the grainlines. A veneer of such thickness is, of course, expensive as comparedto one of A or thereabouts and is not commonly employed.

In the annexed drawing, which is more or less diagrammatic, .I havesought to illustrate in a general way the steps employed in carrying outthe process of my invention, and wherein:

' Figure 1' is a sectional view of a panel comprising three plies andthe platens of a hot press;

Fig. 2, a sectional view of the pro-compressed core with an adhesiveapplied to that surface to which the thin veneer is to be applied;

Fig. 3, a like view with the veneer imposed on the adhesive treatedsurface; and

Fig. 4, a sectional view similar to Fig. 1, illus-.

' trative of the final compression step to ensure adhesion of theveneer.

In producing a body or core upon and to which the thin veneer is to beapplied and secured, I.

take a piece of coniferous wood or a plywood panel formed of suchmaterial and place the same in a hot plate press.

In the drawing; 1, have illustrated -tlu"ee ad- 56 jacent plies, I, 2and 3 ,which for the sake of brevity will be hereinafter referred to asa core or body. These plies are subjected to heavy pressure betweenplatens 4 and 5 of the hot plate press. Such heat and pressure have theeffect of bringing the hard and soft portions of the grain 5 of thesurfaces which are in direct contactwith the hot platens into a smoothcommon plane. In other words, the aggregated tougher portions of thevascular bundles and the intersecting medullary or vascular rays, whichconstitute the so- 10 called silver grain, are displaced and as abovenoted, are brought or carried into a common plane. At the same time, anycontained moisture is eliminated.

To the flat surface thus produced, a suitable 15 adhesive 6 is applied,said adhesive sealing the surface of the coniferous ply. Resin adhesive,casein or other glues in dry form, either dry per se or originally wetand allowed to dry may be utilized. So, too, any thermoplastic adhesive,in- 20 cludingthose produced by using rubber or latex alone or incombination with other materials or cellulose acetate, either in liquidor sheet form, may be employed.

Upon the surface thus formed and to which the 25 adhesive has beenapplied, I apply the desired veneer, as 1. Such veneerwill be caused toadhere by the action of pressure or the conjoint action of pressure-andheat, if the adhesive is of the thermoplastic type. 30

By the method above set forth, one is enabled to employ coniferous woodas the body or core piece of a veneered product employing'thin veneer ofhardwood which will not be deformed and which will not, when it isfinished as above speci- 35 fled, show the underlying grain of theconiferous body.

The article described herein is claimed in my copending applicationSerial No. 243,471, fll December 1, i938. 40

What I claim is:

That method of making a wood veneer struc-= ture employing a coniferouscore piece characterized by the presence of contrasting spring andsummer growths and in'which the grain of the 46 core piece is entirelyobscured by .the veneer, which method consists in subjecting the corepiece to the direct action of heat and compacting pressure to bring allexposed portions of the grain of the core piece into a common plane, andthereafter imposing uponand securing directly to such treated surface ahardwood veneer having a thickness not substantially exceeding ,5

. 'IAWRENCE o'rrmoaa. u

